I used to LOVE his place. Used to. I moved into the neighbourhood about 4 years ago and have come here at least once a week since. I love their chai latte with a BLT on rye. They use very fresh ingredients, it has a great indie atmosphere and it's nice to know I'm supporting a small business with prices not far off of Tim Hortons. However, recently the service has been terrible and the cleanliness is very questionable. Two visits ago I saw little bugs moving around in a bag of bread they were about to use to make my sandwich. I had to point it out to the sandwich artist, she otherwise would have served it to me. This time the baked goods area looked like it hadn't been cleaned out in weeks for the amount of crumbs of colours that didn't match what was available that day all over the platters.
Most concerning to me how ever, as a person who worked part time all the way through university, is the turn over of staff. There is never any consistency in service. Do I order, get my food then pay? Or do I order, pay then get my food? I haven't seen the same person working there for well over a year. I understand businesses that operate with part time staff are prone to high turn over, but I can't help but wonder how they are treating their staff. It always seems to come back to the wife, the husband and the mother in law serving me until some other new hirer comes along.
I hope this place can get it together. It could be a really great little business. It's seems to be just a matter of staffing and consistent training.